ISLAMABAD – Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) during the month of March registered 819 new companies witnessing an increase of 34 percent as compared to the same month of the preceding year.

During the first nine months of current fiscal year it registered 5,858 new companies. As compared to the corresponding period last year, it represents a growth of 33 percent. A growing trend in company incorporation is the direct result of numerous facilitation measures undertaken by the SECP.

Around 86 percent companies were registered as private limited companies, while around 11 percent were registered as single member companies. Three percent were registered as public unlisted, associations not-for-profit, and foreign companies.

The service sector took the lead with the incorporation of 106 companies, construction with 99, followed by trading with 92, I.T. with 84, tourism with 45, education with 32, textile with 28, transport with 27, food and beverages with 26, engineering with 23, corporate agricultural farming with 20 real estate development with 19, pharmaceutical and power generation with 18 each, cable and electric goods and communication with 17 each, auto and allied with 15, healthcare with 14, fuel and energy with 13, paper and board with 11 and 95 companies were registered in other sectors. Moreover, 9 foreign companies were also registered by the CROs in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

During the month, the highest numbers of companies, i.e. 260, were registered at the Islamabad Company Registration Office (CRO), followed by 258 and 177 companies registered in Lahore and Karachi respectively. The CROs in Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sukkur and Gilgit-Baltistan registered 41, 33, 19, 13, 3 and 15 companies respectively.-Online